When Bai Shuqin and Guan Baocheng received the call and rushed to the hospital, Guan Ruirui and Pei Yuancheng had just been wheeled out of the operating room.
Guan Ruirui had sustained varying degrees of fractures in both legs along with a mild concussion.
Pei Yuancheng was slightly better off, having only broken one arm the very arm Guan Ruirui had been clinging to earlier.
Incredibly, though the two vehicles had collided head-on, the driver who should have borne the brunt of the impact only suffered minor injuries. After some medicine and bandages, he didn't even need to stay for observation.
Bai Shuqin couldn't spare a thought for the driver right now. Seeing Guan Ruirui lying on the hospital bed, her face deathly pale, her heart ached so much that tears began to fall. Her already weak body swayed violently, but fortunately, a nearby nurse caught her in time.
"Ruirui, my poor Ruirui... You were perfectly fine staying at home; why did you have to go out? If anything happens to you, how am I supposed to go on living..."
As Bai Shuqin sobbed, Guan Baocheng was already dealing with a mounting headache. He pressed his hand against his brow and barked in a low voice, "Enough already! Isn't she fine now?!"
Bai Shuqin wouldn't stand for that. She shrieked in retort, "Her legs are broken and you call that fine?! I don't know if that driver for the Pei family did this on purpose! Otherwise, why would my Ruirui be the most injured when there were three people in the car?!"
"Shut your mouth! You're giving me a headache!"
Guan Baocheng sat down on a nearby sofa and roared at his wife.
Ever since his outburst the other night, it was as if a switch had been flipped in Guan Baocheng. He was no longer the considerate and gentle man he used to be toward Bai Shuqin.
Feeling wronged, Bai Shuqin bit her lip and sat down beside him in silence.
After a long while, she couldn't help but speak up again.
"Husband, I really feel like something is wrong with our family. First, the two of us fell ill, then Qishen got into an accident, and now even Ruirui has been hurt. How can there be so many coincidences?"
Seeing that Guan Baocheng remained grim-faced and silent but was clearly listening, Bai Shuqin continued, her tone carrying a deliberate note of explanation.
"Especially that night... I really felt like I was possessed. Those words just came pouring out of my mouth uncontrollably. That wasn't what I intended to say at all; it was as if someone else was controlling me."
Guan Baocheng let out a cold sneer, not believing a word of it.
If she hadn't been thinking those things in her heart, how could she have said them?
However, after cooling down for two days, his initial rage had subsided, and he, too, had noticed something was amiss.
He had always been a restrained man. Even if Bai Shuqin had done something stupid, it shouldn't have been possible for him to lose his mind and act so crazily.
He never laid a hand on Bai Shuqin, not because of how much he loved her, but because he believed only useless men vented their anger on their wives.
In a respectable family like his, one had to maintain reason and dignity regardless of how infuriating the situation was.
Therefore, his behavior that night had indeed been strange.
"Husband, do you think these things could be related to that little wench, Jiang Xuxu?"
Bai Shuqin meant that Jiang Xuxu was using some sort of underhanded tactic against the Guan family, but her words suddenly made Guan Baocheng recall what Jiang Xuxu had told them.
"Your ritual to swap fates never actually succeeded."
"Guan Ruirui's previous great calamity will find her again very soon. If you want to save her, have Guan Ruirui bring Grandmother's bracelet and come find me in person."
Guan Baocheng narrowed his eyes, his expression turning gloomy and deep once more.
"Perhaps it really is related to her."
Bai Shuqin was delighted to hear this and was about to agree when Guan Ruirui let out a soft groan and woke up.
The couple immediately cast everything else aside and hurried to the bedside.
Guan Ruirui was startled to see them at first. After a long moment, she seemed to realize she wasn't dreaming and began to wail.
"Dad, Mom... Pei-gege wants to break up with me, waah!"
Bai Shuqin was speechless.
Your legs are broken, and instead of crying about your legs, you're crying about this?
Even as her mother, Bai Shuqin felt a bit of an eye-rolling urge at that moment.
How was she to know that because the anesthesia from the surgery hadn't worn off yet, Guan Ruirui didn't feel any pain? The first thing that came to her mind was what Pei Yuancheng had said to her in the car.
Though he had only just started the conversation, how could she not understand his meaning?
He clearly saw that the bitch Jiang Xuxu had become a member of the Jiang family and wanted to throw her away!
It was all Jiang Xuxu's fault.
Even after leaving the Guan family, she still had to steal from her!
Pei Yuancheng was no good either!
He was a scumbag!
As expected, any man who could like someone like Jiang Xuxu was no good!
Guan Ruirui's face was twisted with resentment, but she didn't realize that her words only confirmed Guan Baocheng's suspicions. He became increasingly certain that this was tied to what Jiang Xuxu had warned them about.
Ruirui's disaster hadn't been successfully transferred; her calamity hadn't passed.
That was why she had been plagued by constant nightmares, followed by the breakup and then the car crash.
With so many things happening at once, wasn't it exactly like what Ruirui had experienced as a child?
And then there was Bai Shuqin's strange behavior that night. If Xuxu had done something to make Shuqin lose control and speak her mind, then... Xuxu definitely understood these matters.
Otherwise, how would she know about the fate-swapping ritual and even be able to stop it from succeeding?
At the thought of this, Guan Baocheng's breathing grew shallow. He instinctively looked at Guan Ruirui's wrist, and seeing it was bare, he asked urgently, "Ruirui, where is the bracelet your grandmother left you?"
"It's at home. Why are you asking about it all of a sudden?"
That bracelet was too old-fashioned. If she hadn't worn it just to spite Jiang Xuxu back then, she never would have put it on. She had tossed it into her jewelry box long ago.
Recalling Jiang Xuxu's words, Guan Baocheng shared his theory with his wife and daughter.
When she heard that Jiang Xuxu might be the only one who could save her life provided she went to beg her with the bracelet Guan Ruirui's expression turned hideous for a split second. However, she quickly masked it, looking at Bai Shuqin with a look of immense grievance.
Bai Shuqin did not disappoint her, screaming out immediately, "Make my Ruirui take the bracelet and personally beg that little wench?! Impossible! Husband! How could you even think of that? Wouldn't that be delivering Ruirui to her door just to be humiliated?! No! I absolutely refuse!"
Guan Baocheng had expected this reaction. He looked at Bai Shuqin coldly.
"If Ruirui doesn't go to her, do you have any other solution? If the great calamity in Ruirui's destiny is still there, today's car crash won't be the end."
It would be the beginning.
Guan Ruirui's face turned white as a sheet, making her look weak and helpless.
Bai Shuqin's heart bled for her. She pulled Guan Ruirui into her arms and said, "There are plenty of capable people in this world; begging that wench isn't the only way. Besides, what could that brat possibly know?
If she really were that capable, she wouldn't have spent eighteen years in our house shielding Ruirui from misfortune. In my opinion, she's just talking nonsense on purpose to humiliate our Ruirui and trick us out of the old lady's bracelet!"
Guan Baocheng frowned as he looked at Bai Shuqin, but he didn't argue immediately. He clearly harbored similar concerns.
Just then, the ward door was pushed open from the outside.
It was Guan Qishen, who had rushed over after hearing the news. He had overheard everything from outside the door.
"If she wants Grandmother's bracelet, just give it to her. Nothing is more important than Ruirui. As for the bracelet, I will personally deliver it to her on Ruirui's behalf."
Guan Qishen's tone was calm and confident, as if he didn't think this was a big deal at all.
After all, he had been Xuxu's brother for eighteen years. He was convinced that as long as he was the one to ask, Xuxu would never refuse him.
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